The Lean Operations Research Center (LO-RC) is a unique center focused on 'Lean thinking'. The core competence of LO-RC is doing research. The research projects are often executed in cooperation with industrial organizations.
What is Lean?
The lean philosophy is all about eliminating waste and synchronizing
necessities
in order to, on short and long term, meet the requirements of the market. The lean philosophy is expressed in several different statements: 'achieving more with less people', '
reducing non-value-adding activities', 'slimming', etc. Lean is often associated with efficiency, reducing surplus.
This however, is only one side of the lean philosophy. An essential aspect of the lean philosophy is a continues striving for flawless products, that can be delivered on demand, customer specific, without wasting material, labor hours, and other resources (f.i. energy) in a safe (both physical, emotional as well as professional) working environment. The lean philosophy is a 'continuous improvement' philosophy.
There are several methods and techniques that can be used to become 'leaner'. LO-RC investigates the applicability of these methods and techniques. LO-RC also further develops these methods and techniques. Many research LO-RC performs is focused on practical applicability.
Mission
:
LO-RC wants to become a recognized and acknowledged centre for knowledge on 'lean operations' in the scientific world as well as by organizations. LO-RC also wants to be known for its development on generic and advanced tools/methods that can be used in organizations that want to become 'leaner'. Finally, LO-RC wants to be a (virtual) meeting point where researchers (both scientific employees as well as students) can do their research effectively, efficiently and with pleasure.
Vision:
The concept 'operations' indicates activities that are needed in an organization in order to transform the input to output. The concept 'lean' regards to the elimination of waste and the synchronizing of necessary handlings/activities, in such ways that the origination is capable, on short and long term, to meet the demands of the market. In the lean philosophy, everything (!) what does not add value for the customer, is waste. Every organization has waste that seems inevitable, such as safety stock, set-up time and maintenance of the machines. Important, according to the lean philosophy, is to evaluate these 'inevitable' wastes to see if they can be eliminated. An organization has to try to continuously improve in order to reduce waste. This is a condition that has to be met in order to optimally serve the customers, now and in the future. The lean philosophy is not limited to what happens inside the organizations, the input and output of business processes are also elements that have to be considered in the lean philosophy.
It is not self-evident that organizations have or strive to have 'lean operations'. A 'lean debate' is taking place both in scientific literature as well as in practice. This debate considers both fundamental issues and practical questions about the availability and translation of lean principles in and between organizations. It is debatable, for instance, what can be regarded as waste (time, amount, energy) and how the different types of waste relate to each other. Than there is he dilemma between agility and wastes, some waste can be needed in order to remain agile. Regarding the applicability of lean principles there are questions about the use of lean principles in a low volume-high variety environment. LO-RC can, with its resources (scientific employees, students and doctoral students) contribute significantly to the 'lean debate'. LO-RC creates a bridge between the university and other organizations in order to study and develop lean practices.
